...integrates
the tambin, a three-holed yet amazingly malleable West African flute
into a contemporary context without violating its native tradition
at all. Bailo Bah, a Fulani tambin master taught by his grandfather
during boyhood in the Fouta Djallon Mountains now lives in New York
City. He has hooked up with Quebec-born Sylvain Leroux, who also excels
on the meter-long, hollowed-root tube. The tambin is always overblown,
with vocalisms added just as Rahsaan Roland Kirk used to mutter while
he blew, yet it produces a pleasing, mellifluous air. In an acoustic
ensemble with West African kora, balafon and upright bass, the two
Fula flutists toss motifs back and forth, improvise with, against
and around each other, producing a simultaneously edgy and soothing
sonic richness.